The owners of a modest home near Twentynine Palms lost their cherished possessions after a bank mistakenly foreclosed their residence. A crew broke into Alvin and Pat Tjosaas’ desert home and took everything after being directed by Wells Fargo to secure the structure...

Alvin said the deputy sheriff said, “Good news, we know who took (your possessions)…Wells Fargo. Bad news, your stuff is all gone.” …A spokesman for Wells Fargo released a statement apologizing to the couple.

“We are deeply sorry for the very personal losses the Tjosaas family suffered as a result of their home being mistakenly secured,” said Alfredo Padilla. “We are moving quickly to reach out to the family to resolve this unfortunate situation in an attempt to right this wrong.”

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The couple didn't even have a mortgage. Alvin and his father built the house with their own hands. The corporate apology and promise to "right this wrong" are, of course, meaningless public relations ploys, because nobody is actually sorry and there isn't any way to make it right. There have been many stories like this, and I think the only way to address this situation is for the people who ordered it and did it to go to jail. Maybe that would set an example for others and lead to making absolutely sure they are in the right house.

Friday, September 07, 2012

Man fatally shoots 1, wounds other at Ky. meeting - Spokesman.com - Sept. 7, 2012: Hindi was only at the meeting for a short time before he started shooting, police said. Some of the several people in attendance detained him until officers arrived.David Merritt, 73, a one-time president of the homeowners association, was shot once in the head and died at the scene, said Jefferson County Chief Deputy Coroner Jo-Ann Farmer. The wounded man, whose identity was not immediately released, was hospitalized Friday at the University of Louisville Hospital, Farmer said.Spring Creek Homeowners Association attorney Mike Kelly told The Associated Press that the group accused Hindi of violating zoning laws. Hindi wrote several letters to Kelly, expressing anger and contempt for the attorney, Kelly said.
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Shades of a similar Arizona incident in 2000 in which an HOA member went postal on the board of directors.

Sunday, September 02, 2012

How Your Movements Are Being Tracked, Probably Without Your Knowledge | Alternet:
Automated license plate readers, or ALPRs: "Big cities, like Washington, DC and New York, are riddled with ALPRs. According to the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, ALPRs have become so pervasive in America that they constitute a "covert national surveillance grid." The civil liberties group has mapped the spread of ALPRs, and contends on its Web site that, "Silently, but constantly, the government is now watching, recording your everyday travels and storing years of your activities in massive data warehouses that can be quickly 'mined' to find out when and where you have been, whom you’ve visited, meetings you’ve attended, and activities you’ve taken part in."
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And small cities, such as Tiburon, CA, are also acquiring this technology. The idea is to surreptitiously keep track of every car that passes. What is being done with all this information?